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mercerislandbooks · 1 year ago

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50 Years of Island Books: The Staff

This 50 Years of Island Books series is about to reach the grand finale, because November is only a few weeks away and it's almost time to pop the champagne. Since April, I've talked to booksellers and owners from years past, sales reps, and many beloved local authors to paint a picture of what Island Books has meant to the community and how it evolved into the place it is today.

Now, I'm turning my attention to the people who show up hour to hour, in the here and now, to make the store the living, breathing wonderland that it is and will be in 2023 and beyond. On a rainy Monday when the store was closed for cleaning, I pulled them aside for some heart-to-hearts.

So many times we come in and say a quick hi to these friendly booksellers, the face of a familiar place we know and love, but it's rare we think about who they are as people and what they think about as they work. I've known many of them for years and have watched the staff evolve. From my little perch, I can honestly say that they put so much love into what they do, and that our island community wouldn't be the same without them.

Side note: since I already cornered the longest tenured Island Books employee for a separate blog, Cindy only makes a tiny (and fun) appearance via Caitlin in this post. If you want to learn more about Cindy, click here.

To our Island Books booksellers—we love and appreciate all of you. Truly. Now let's get into it.

Miriam: I'm so happy to have a chance to talk to each of you. Let's start with, which book category excites you the most, and why?

Brad: Any day I can turn someone onto the Russians, like Checkhov, Tolstoy, or Dostoevsky, or someone less read, like Pushkin, is a great day. Jorge Luis Borges is a favorite for customers looking for a literary blend of fantasy and science fiction literary. He's Argentinian, and his voice differs from many other classic authors. There are so many large and small presses putting out reprints.

Becca: I'm largely a sci-fi, fantasy, and romance person. I’m not averse to other categories, but the books that I drop everything to read tend to be one of those genres (or fairy-tale retellings). I also love curling up with a good Middle Grade or Young Adult fiction.

Lori Robinson: The genre I get the most energy around right now is romance. I read widely, but I have my favorite places I like to land, although every once in a while something different catches my eye.

Caitlin: I love to sell the books I like to read: short story collections, literary fiction, translated fiction, poetry, some memoirs, and art and ballet history. When I first started at Island Books, a lot of people said, “Oh, short stories don’t sell here.” But I'm happy to say that isn't the case anymore.

Nancy: I like to read literary fiction and good narrative nonfiction, generally science and history.

Lillian: I think people would assume that I read a ton of kids books, but I’m around them so much and read them for work—at least 600 picture books a year (!), so for my own pleasure, I read mostly mystery, romance, and fantasy.

Miriam: As a group, you have a wide variety of tastes, which is great for customers. Now, tell me about your proudest accomplishments at Island Books.

Brad: I love to draw signs. I’m a part-time illustrator with a cartoony style, maybe because I’m a big graphic novel fan.

Becca: It’s fun to have become a person that customers ask for book recommendations. -- I still feel fairly new (2 years under my belt now), but to have become an integral part of something I love so much is awesome.

Lori Robinson: Mine would be the year we sold over 200 copies of Amy Snow by Tracey Rees in six months because I kept hand selling it. It was the first time I realized the impact a bookseller could have on the success of a book that wasn’t getting all the media attention.

Caitlin: Mine would be proving that our customers do like short stories.

Nancy: I'm proud of the many stories over the years that I could bring home to my family, and tell them how we found the perfect book for a customer’s dying mother or a kid having an issue, things like that. And the funny ones—we used to have a customer who loved to give a certain book to his lady friends. Whenever we saw that title on order, everyone knew he had a successful date! I think he single-handedly kept that book in print. I sure didn’t have those kind of stories when I worked as a web designer.

Miriam: There's no job quite like bookselling, is there? Those are great answers. Can you give an example of when you felt a deep connection with a customer or the community?

Becca: When a kid comes in and says they like fairy tales and you realize that kid is exactly who you were as a small child. Then you give them a pile of books and they buy all of them and you’re like, yes, I’ve found mini-me! Or having someone call back or come in the next time and say, "What you gave me for my grandkid was exactly what I needed and they loved it".

Lori Robinson: I have a certain customer who I remember coming to our door during the pandemic and saying, “Just pick two books out for me, I’ll read anything you want." That trust is challenging. When I don’t know someone, I really want to take care of it and give people good choices. Anytime someone buys a book that I write a blog about, that warms my little heart. And I love when someone comes in and I think, I would never guess you’d read this book, and then they say, “I love this book!” I just love that we all get to like what we like.

Caitlin: One of our customers who loves short stories—having that customer come to me for recommendations is really nice, and an honor because she’s also a big reader, a school librarian, and a mother. I love sharing a common love of certain books with individual customers.

Nancy: Here's my quirky fact - This will be the second 50th anniversary of a bookstore I’ve attended this year. The other one I went to recently was for Red and Black Books, where I used to work with former Island Books bookseller Kay Wilson. I saw her there. Talk about long-time connections.

Lillian: I actually have a really clear one. Earlier this year, a mom came in and said that her queer child felt welcomed and happy to be at the store, and she was so thankful that her child had thought to mention how welcome they felt. I almost started to cry on the spot and it makes me tear up thinking about it.

Miriam: That's amazing. It's nice to know that your experiences in the store are just as meaningful to you as they are to the customers. I love hearing this good stuff, and I’m also interested in hearing about a challenge you overcame.

Brad: At first I would have said, wrapping, and it’s something I didn’t expect. I had no idea! People on Mercer Island really know how to give gifts. Drawing quickly is also a challenge.

Caitlin: I wish more people would give books I like a try. People will come in and want to read whatever is the bestselling book. What I say is, “What are you in the mood to read?” and then go from there, because not everyone needs to read bestsellers or classics. They’re not in school. Read what you want.

Nancy: There are a lot of books! We like a lot of books, but more and more books come out and we don’t have the space to shelve everything. We can order it, but we can’t stock everything. So every quarter, it’s a huge challenge to say, these are the books we’re going to commit to.

Lillian: The honest challenge is to stay interested after reading so many books over so many years. What I realize after I go through another season is that the books are different, that’s the great thing about books. Sometimes customers want the same thing over and over, and those things become classics and that’s fine, but for the majority of customers and definitely for me, I have to see what’s different, otherwise, it can get repetitive.

Miriam: Great answers that speak to so many years on the job. Here's another question. How would your colleagues describe you?

Brad: Friendly and kind, I would hope. A good listener.

Becca: Enthusiastic and willing. Laurie says I’m sassy. I'm also the youngest and got sucked into the social media part of things pretty quick, so I get a lot of the, hey, younger generation, technology, things.

Lori Robinson: I know that I’m pretty calm and unflappable when it comes to dealing with whatever you’ve got to deal with.

Caitlin: Oh, ha, here’s a note from Cindy about this question. She said I’m literary and quirky, and a name-dropper. And I was like, “Yeah…I think that’s pretty accurate.”

Nancy: Brilliant, friendly, kind to everyone, no-nonsense. You know. All the good stuff.

Lillian: I’m definitely the squeaky wheel. I guess what they’d say is that I get things done. That’s the thing. I get things done.

Miriam: These answers cracked me up (including the ones that aren't making it to print!). OK, let's do a fantasy question now. What would you do with it if someone gave you one million dollars to improve the book business and/or promote literacy?

Brad: Open more dream bookstores and do them the way I always wanted.

Becca: The industry is already diversifying the characters and cultures in books, and I’d find ways to support that. Everyone deserves to see themselves in what they read.

Lori Robinson: I’d love to do something to fight book bans. Working at the bookstore has opened my eyes to what banning books does, and I appreciate that it’s changed my view on experiencing things rather than being afraid of them.

Caitlin: I’d start with free nationwide healthcare for people earning under a certain amount of money. I grew up in a household filled with books, and I think it’s important for kids to grow up with their own books, and that takes parents earning a living wage.

Nancy: This is because I’m such a nuts-and-bolts person, but I’d get rid of dust jackets and have everything be paper on board so that we have less damages to deal with. Saves money and they’re annoying.

Lillian: I’d reverse this trend of prices going up because that would make independent bookstores more accessible to people who shop online because it’s cheaper. There are people who can’t afford to shop in independent bookstores, and if you remove that barrier, it would just open up that handpicked-for-you element that can be so special for kids, and adults too.

Miriam: Ah, if only booksellers ran the world. How about this. If I were to work with you in the store for a month, what would I learn about bookstore life that I can’t possibly gather from a brief interview?

Becca: A lot of people don’t know that we get new releases every single Tuesday, or that we get books sent to us a week before they come out so we have them on the actual release day. So many books, all the time.

Caitlin: Customers are pretty savvy. Obviously, there’s that old idea that booksellers and librarians are just sitting around reading all day, but it’s not true, there’s a lot of work. It’s physical work, you’re constantly bending and putting things away.

Nancy: Well I’m sure everyone says, we do not have time to read while we’re working. They also might not know just how much we really know our customers. Sometimes when we’re going through a catalog, we’ll say, “Oh, I know who will like that book.” And we get that book for that particular person in our community. The two big trends in the past years are the normalization of queerness in fiction and nonfiction, so we really have a tiny LGBTQ section, because, there aren’t really any queer novels anymore—they’re mainstream. I love that. The other thing is Tiktok. It’s been crazy for us getting younger women and girls in the store. And we wish Tiktok could work that way for boys too. We now see these backlist authors getting a second wind because of Tiktok and that’s so interesting as a trend. The third thing that everyone is talking about is AI. One of the things that we have on our radar and it’s been coming up in the book world is fake books. We’re seeing them more and more in the travel and cookbook categories. Our job as curators is more important than ever. We’re working with reputable publishers, we’re looking at every book that comes in the store, we’re recommending books. I think with AI, people are becoming even more important.

Lillian: How much time we spend just putting books away and tidying up and keeping things alphabetized. I can’t tell you how much we hum the alphabet to keep bookshelves in order. And working with me in particular, I’d say that I come across much more serious than I really am.

Miriam: You all have to be so organized. Let's move on to my final question. What does being part of a small business within a community mean, and how do you play a role in it?

Brad: One of the best things about working at Island Books is how the community supports the store. And it’s not just about books. We’re a hub. About six months after I started, a woman came in and said her car wouldn’t start. Does anyone know how to jump a car? And I said, I can help. She didn’t know me, but she knew I worked at Island Books, so she knew we'd pitch in.

Becca: People are so committed to the small-town vibe here, everyone knowing each other. It’s so cool to see my colleagues interact with all these customers and they know their names and who they are. I also admire the way we work with other small businesses in the community. Everyone is invested in each other.

Lori Robinson: It’s funny for me, because I went to middle school and high school here, and I worked on the south end for longer than I care to admit, but all of that built a lot of relationships for me, the kind where you see people every day. It’s strange to have people to come in who have kids who were four when I met them and are now graduating from college and starting their careers. When I think about being part of a bookstore, I hope that there are some kids and regular customers who have felt like we’ve offered them a safe place and that I’ve personally been a safe person to talk to who they know won’t judge them or what they like to read. It means a lot to people when we remember them. I hope we offer a warm moment and a good experience.

Caitlin: With the exception of Laurie (and Becca, who is moving off-island), none of the staff lives on the island. So I guess we feel we’re representatives of the store and the community and it’s our responsibility to make people feel welcome.

Nancy: I feel like I have really grown with Mercer Island. I don’t live here, but I feel like I’ve really gotten to know this community. I worked for Roger for six years and I’ve worked for Laurie for almost seven, and we see kids grow up, we see people age, we have a lot of customers who have died over the years, and you’re kind of going through life cycles with people. We’ve seen the build up of Mercer Island, the businesses who are all working together now—it didn’t used to be like that. The community feels more like they appreciate their community too. I think our customers really stepped up during Covid and realized, we love this place, and we need it. They’ve been great.

Lillian: As the kids’ specialist, it’s different, because I spend a lot of time chatting with the community kids. I get to watch them grow up. There are people that come in who are going to high school that eight years ago I was recommending chapter books to. So, to have a hand in helping kids become life-long readers, and enhancing how important it is, is great. I always say I’m lucky to not be the teacher or parent because I don’t have to worry about the academics. I worry about, how can I make this kid love books so much that they will be a reader for the rest of their life?

Miriam: Right? That makes so much sense. Thanks, everyone. What a cool crowd. I adore all of you and am so glad you're in my life, and everyone else's!

Next week, for my final installment of 50 Years of Island Books, I'll be talking with the owner, Laurie Raisys, and it'll be a good one. See you soon.

—Miriam

#island books #Miriam landis #bookstore staff #lori robinson #Becca Oman #Cindy corujo #Caitlin luce baker #Lillian welch #Nancy Shawn #Brad Beshaw #50 Years of Island Books

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pbjelly90 · 6 months ago

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I’m rewatching/rereading or checking out for the first time a lot of Sherlock media lately and after seeing the teaser for Knives Out 3, it’s got me thinking about fictional detective characters. I haven’t thought this through completely, but I was trying to decide how I’d rank my favorites throughout various mystery and crime media.

Of course I’m also happy to hear anyone else’s plugs for their favorites I’ve overlooked or not seen before too, so share if you’ve got ‘em and you happen to see this! Would love to see more female led detective stories and queer detective stories.

I’m thinking off the top of my head that my top 15 or so list goes something like this (might end up making this a top 20 or more as I keep adding to it lol) -

1. Sherlock Holmes - This is pretty obvious given the very few things I’ve posted about and my reblogs. The detective that truly got me into mystery stories about 20 years ago. I started reading a collection of the original stories I came across at a Borders bookstore and got hooked from there. I think Watson is what really sold me on Holmes, he humanizes him, givens him more of an emotional anchor. I also have always appreciated how flawed he is. Some genius characters are over the top, but he’s always had some genuine struggles like his drug use. And in the books he even admits Mycroft is better than him at deduction, just lazier with the legwork. My current favorite incarnations may be the original from the books and the Yuumori version, but credit due to the BBC version because I was obsessed the first two seasons in. I love that he’s in the public domain so we can get so many creative takes on him and his world and stories. I’ve been to the Holmes museum at 221 B Baker Street in London (an address they made just for the museum) and seen the statue of him honoring Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in Edinburgh. One of my top favorite fictional characters of all time. If you mention he’s in something, chances are, I’m gonna read/watch it.

2. Harry Dresden - Should probably be no surprise that as a fantasy and mystery fan, I’m a big fan of novels that started off as private detective stories with a wizard on the case. The series gets away from its detective roots later on in favor of bigger plots, but I always enjoyed seeing Harry mix workmanlike detective methods with practical magic. He’s no genius, but he’s clever and willing to mix it up sometimes to see what shakes out. I’d like to think Marcone is the closest thing to his version of a Moriarty, his criminal counterpart. There’s a grudging respect of sorts there even if they dislike the other’s methods. I love Harry and his stories so much I went to Chicago years back just to geek out at some spots from the books (and see Sue!) so he definitely deserves a spot on this list.

3. Ron Kamonohashi - This is a very close race between him and Benoit Blanc, but Ron wins out. He’s got a Watson like character with Toto, which I always appreciate (let Benoit’s hubby come along sometime?) and he’s very Sherlock coded with his little quirks (black sugar syrup is his drug lol) and dependence on mysteries for mental stimulation. Also his dynamic with the police. I enjoy his relationship with Blue and the characters from the academy very much. And I’m very curious to see how the Moriarty connection plays out. He’s just such a silly and I wish the manga was out in physical form in English, I love him and he’s my blorbo. He feels like Sherlock from an Ace Attorney game even more than Herlock Sholmes from The Great Ace Attorney did. This anime feels very much made for me like Yuumori feels. Also his cat is adorable. 💕

4. Benoit Blanc - I enjoy him so dang much. I’d love to see a book adaptation of Knives Out but I wonder how much of how charm is how well Daniel Craig plays him and how much fun you can tell he’s having. Love his relationship with his hubby, his accent, his dress sense, and how he just stumbles into these intricate mysteries with crazy rich folks (and helps support the women who’ve been wronged by them so they can take matters into their own hands to set things right.) I’m delighted they’re continuing to make these movies. I’d take a graphic novel too if not traditional books.

5. Shawn Spencer - Had to bump everyone down this list, how could I forget about Shawn from Psych? He’s definitely more on the strong personality end for detectives, quirky, more interested in romance, and much more extroverted than many examples. I love his friendship with Gus and also his relationship with his father always gave him more depth. Seeing how his father trained him up from a young age, sometimes at great personal cost between them, was an interesting spin on how a genius detective gained their special skills. Also the show is just so dang fun and silly. As a person, I’d probably find Shawn a bit annoying IRL, but I greatly enjoy his misadventures with Gus to rein him in. Lassie is totally his Lestrade. And Shawn’s last name is a Robert B Parker reference to Spenser, isn’t it?

6. Sam Vimes (and the rest of the Watch) - Vimes only doesn’t score higher here because somehow he feels like more of a cop or protector than detective? His emphasis has never been completely about just unraveling mysteries but more focused on defending Ankh Morpork, especially the common people, and delivering justice. Jingo, Night Watch and Thud are three of my all time favorite books of his, with Night Watch as one of my favorite books of all time. Feet of Clay is probably his main detective turn in my memory, as the later books see him have to take on more of a diplomatic role with different responsibilities. Angua and Cheery get a shoutout here as also being highly competent members of the Watch. Carrot has his moments too. Vimes and the rest of the Watch are notable on this list as the some of the very few ranked who are part of actual law enforcement and not some sort of private consulting detective. The Discworld books and the Watch books in particular were formative reading for me back in my teenage years and further cemented my interest in crime stories (and caring curmudgeon characters like Vimes.) Hugh Laurie would play a great Vimes.

7. Amy Santiago & Rosa Diaz (Brooklyn 99 Squad) - The only other official members of law enforcement on this list so far. Jake gets most of the focus and cases, and similar to Shawn Spencer, I enjoy him as a character even if he’d probably be annoying IRL. Love Terry and Holt as the two leaders and mentors of the squad. But my biggest shoutout here is to Amy and Rosa, I would adore a spinoff with them as the Sleuth Sisters solving cases together. Two skilled, nuanced Latina detectives with their own distinctive, non-stereotypical personalities and an awesome friendship? Yes please. They’re what carries this squad way up the list, even if the cases in this show aren’t usually as complex as some of the others, with the focus more on comedy.

8. Hercule Poirot - Been years since I last read the novels, but I’ve always enjoyed him as a little fussy looking Belgian fellow that folks underestimate. He’s got a different approach from Holmes. He likes a dramatic ending reveal. He always seems like he knows a joke others don’t, has a twinkle in his eye. I devoured a lot of the Agatha Christie stories back in the day, and Poirot’s personality maybe isn’t as strong on the page as Holmes, but I feel that’s more to give the reader a chance to feel like they’re the detective figuring it out alongside him. It’s almost like reading along with a silent protagonist at times in a video game. Part of this is due to the fact that Poirot novels never have one consistent narrator, which allows Christie to do some creative things with the narrator and have them take different roles in the story, but it also means we never really have a POV character who understands and describes Poirot on the same level as Watson does for Holmes (at least not that I remember? Apparently Arthur Hastings is in 7 novels at least but I guess he did not make as much of an impression on me. He appears to be more prominent in the David Suchet TV show.)

9. Conan Edogawa - I never finished Case Closed / Detective Conan because it’s crazy long, but it’s a very nostalgic show for me and I very much enjoyed the many episodes I watched back in the day. Conan is a genius, probably to an over the top degree, but his difficulties in working around being stuck as a kid helped add some stakes and obstacles in his stories and felt very relatable as a younger person interested in mysteries growing up. I wonder if they’d ever consider doing a reboot series someday with much fewer episodes, so we’d get a conclusion without needing to watch over 1,000 episodes.

10. Enola Holmes - A little Mary Sueish and teenage wish fulfillmenty, but dangit she’s fun. Essentially a younger teenaged Sherlock with a touch more people skills? Fighting back against the misogyny of her time period. I have a feeling if she came out back when I was a teen and first reading Holmes, I’d be obsessed. I’m curious to check out her books, I don’t mind if they’re more YA oriented if the mysteries are solid.

11. Ranpo Edogawa (and the whole armed detective agency from BSD) - I love and enjoy Ranpo and he very much has spoiled little brat energy. Fukuzawa as his dad figure brings me much joy. However, I also find him and most characters from Bungo to be over the top geniuses, to the point where they no longer feel very grounded as human. Sherlock often feels still believable to me, that someone could specialize to his degree and be that effective, but the BSD characters have always felt supernaturally competent. But with that aside, they’re also often very fun. Given that Ranpo doesn’t have any other superpowers, unlike other geniuses like Dazai or Fyodor, I can allow “ultra deduction” to be his. But Atsushi and Kunkida feel way more grounded and they’re the heart of this group. Love Yosano and Kenji too. Fukuzawa is my favorite but does little detective work usually, leaving that up to the team. I would have enjoyed seeing Aya and Bram be a detective team within the ADA. 😢

12. Nancy Drew - I read these so long ago but these books definitely contributed to my interest in detective stories growing up. I don’t remember many distinctive traits of Nancy now, but I have to give her credit for nostalgia and sparking my interest in mysteries back then. Has there been a modern day update of these?

13. Spenser - Got into these novels by Robert B. Parker at some point back in my twenties, as they were always mentioned in early blurbs for The Dresden Files as a point of comparison, Spenser crossed with Merlin. Very pulpy detective stories, a lot like the Maltese Falcon. Not the most feminist, got plenty of film noir type tropes, but the mysteries were compelling. I can’t say Spenser was necessarily likable, but he had the workman like detective style you find in Dresden that I appreciated. Not a genius like Holmes, he truly had to stir things up sometimes, make a lot more mistakes, and in general do extra legwork. Wouldn’t mind seeing someone update him for modern day somehow.

14. Anita Blake - Does she count here? I’ve found a sad lack of female detectives, maybe that’s because I’ve largely read older stories in the genre? She, like Dresden, started off more detective (and huntress) and since then has changed. Unlike Dresden however, I gave up on Anita’s series around book 10. I enjoyed her early on although she definitely had some viewpoints I did not agree with, I enjoyed the St Louis setting and urban fantasy elements. I think the Sookie Stackhouse mysteries are in a similar area of the country, also with vampires? Maybe I’ll give those a try.

A tie below perhaps for number 15?

Adrian Monk - I’ve only watched a few episodes of Monk, never got super into it, but he gives me Poirot vibes with how fastidious he is. Eventually I’ll try watching a bit more of this.

Miss Marple - Curious to see how these books compare to Poirot. I started one ages ago but didn’t finish it, got sidetracked. I’ve seen now someone has written a book with characters based on Holmes, Marple and Poe? (Interesting that it’s not Dupin.) Curious to see how that’s handled since Marple I don’t believe is public domain? Some Poirot is, but not her yet to my knowledge.

Auguste Dupin - Read The Purloined Letter, but not the other stories yet that I recall. I don’t remember Dupin himself having any traits that particularly stuck with me, but he is the proto fictional detective so I have to give credit there.

Sam Spade - Similar to Dupin, Sam Spade sets up the proto tropes for his genre of detective story, the more film noir type story. But otherwise he wasn’t super memorable to me, perhaps because he only had the one. Spenser takes a lot of inspiration from him.

Philip Marlowe - Ditto for the above. Read The Big Sleep, can’t recall if there were more that I read? But he helped establish the genre.

Nero Wolfe - I think I have read one of these, but I'll be honest, I don't remember it very well. Probably due to give this series another shot.

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Honorable mentions: For characters that are not technically detectives by title, but still solve mysteries, or aren’t the lead in their respective stories -

Richard Ranasinghe de Vulpian - I first picked up volume one of the Jeweler Richard light novels because the boys on the cover are pretty, but I bought it because it was described as having mystery elements online and that the two leads would work through cases together. It’s shifted some in focus since then, but Richard is certainly like a detective for jewel related matters. He’s a bit of a Holmes figure, brilliant with specialized knowledge, clever, good at reading people, British, and Seigi is like his warm hearted Watson, good in a fight, deeply loyal. Yet another reason why I love these boys.

Maomao from Apothecary Diaries - Technically not a detective, but she does so much investigating and I love her. Her work sometimes even extends to non-medical cases, she truly has a lot of knowledge but it feels believable with her fixation on medicines / poisons and her upbringing, particularly with her adoptive dad’s mentorship and training. Love hearing her infodump on plants in particular.

All the Ace Attorney lead characters do so much investigating. I recently saw a post that said Phoenix is more of a skilled investigator rather than a lawyer, and they are not wrong. Herlock Sholmes is very silly and I need to finish GAA to really properly judge him, but I’ve seen him invent more than I’ve seen him deduce. I love Ema Skye and would love to see her get her own investigations game, really enjoy seeing her geek out over forensics and working cases once she lands her dream job. Gumshoe is precious but not the best at his job.

Jack Reacher technically doesn’t have a job anymore? But he was an MP and does investigate nearly as much as he fights. I read a fair number of his books when I wanted to learn how to write fight scenes better, and learned some other helpful details while following this series too, particularly about firearms. I like the new Amazon tv adaptation of these stories so far too. Reacher has earned a shoutout here on this list.

The first two Paper Mario games have at least one detective chapter, usually a very silly take on Agatha Christie like tropes, and I enjoy them very much. Give me a full detective spinoff in the Paper Mario world please. Detective Peach from Princess Peach Showtime maybe? Daisy as her Watson? I liked her cases but they were short and the mechanics got a little repetitive, gameplay-wise.

Also in video games, Professor Layton is technically an archaeologist and professor, but he certainly ends up solving quite a few mysteries. I haven't finished all of his games because I'm actually quite crap at a lot of kinds of puzzles, but I enjoy him very much.

House, MD - for a much harsher take on a Holmes like figure, with his own Watson in an actual practicing doctor, Dr Wilson. Ties back into Holmes inspiration coming from a real world medical doctor, Dr. Joseph Bell. I was really into this show for a few years, but House could be so acerbic at times I stopped caring for it as much. Especially when he would be a dick to Cuddy.

Neal Caffrey from White Collar does a lot of investigating and would be a clever detective type in another show, but here as a CI he gives me more Arsene Lupin gentleman thief vibes.

The leads from Cowboy Bebop do have to do a lot of tracking down criminals and investigating, but as bounty hunters, they’re generally after folks who have already been identified as major suspects or convicted, so they don’t quite fall under the umbrella of detectives. Still I love this show and it also added to my interest in crime stories and influenced my writing since I was a teen.

Spy characters in crime stories like James Bond, Twilight / Loid, etc - these guys do some investigation as well, but this is like a whole additional category on its own. Big fan of this genre typically as well, had someone recommend Alex Rider for a YA take on the genre.

I’ll probably continue adding to this post as I think of more fictional detectives to ramble about. 😆

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